McKinsey: Automation could take over one-third of U.S. jobs by 2030

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Dive Brief:

Automation could take over a third of U.S. and German jobs as soon as 2030, says Axios, citing a new McKinsey report. Some 800 million workers could be affected.

Most economies will replace those jobs, but the unemployed will need to prepare for new types of jobs, the report's lead author, Michael Chui, told Axios. Nearly 14% of the global population will have to change jobs entirely.

Key findings in the report show that mid-career workers will need new skills; wages will be insufficient to support a middle-class living standard, possibly requiring income supplement programs; and the rollout of automation or robotics shouldn't be stopped, but allowed to accelerate because of benefits for business.

Dive Insight:

A recent Randstad report agrees that workers will soon need to retool their skills, or "upskill," but one-third of employees have done nothing to make that happen. The time to prepare, however, appears to be now.

How real and how fast is the automation takeover? Computerization could soon put 3.5 million cashiers out of work. Automation could steal 7.5 million retail jobs. Companies like Walmart are testing or have already automated some job functions, putting retail workers on the front line of transition.

The technology is also expected to bring many new jobs — possibly more than it kills — but those will likely require technological skills not usually found among, for example, retail workers. To meet this demand, some employers have already started to upskill current employees and partner with schools to create a trained talent pool.